The full classes in Din's Curse were all well and good, but the main attraction of the show was the Hybrid. Something similar to that in Drox Operative would be the custom race
(let's say they're a product of the Guild experimenting with the ancient Drox' genetic engineering facilities) .

Creating a custom race would entail the following steps :

1. Choosing a logo from among all available race and subrace logos in the game.
2. Choosing one of the "stock" race's ship designs (including Talon, Overlord and Legion designs) .
3. Determining the initial stat bonuses (5 points to distribute, so there's more than just +5 for one stat or +3 and +2 for two stats) . Per point and Command-Up bonuses adjust accordingly.
4. Determining the race-specific slot layout. The player may choose between either a heavy slot, a medium and a light slot or three light slots.
For every slot, the type of component that it holds has to be specified from a list of all available types (with a few exceptions, such as purely stat-enhancing components or crew members) .

As "penalty" for playing a custom race, the player would lose the race-specific crew slot, similar to the loss of the third speciality in Din's.

this idea is great but... the idea of a custom race should entail allowing the modder/player to make there own ship ect, IF they have to make such a thing as a mod However given the code framework i'm not really sure how to go about it without people feeling over whelmed as most things like this can get complex if not planned out and structured well.
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here a few things I think might help with this idea maybe other ideas may cut out or add into this but here is a basic idea framework to think about when modding a custom race that I often following when modding games!

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#1 - consider what limits Drox Operative's game engine code enables you to mod you dont want to make a complex race and realize the game crashies or worst when you add in the custom race mod and it not be compatible or conflicts with existing assets within the code ect,ect.
#2 - UI compatiablity and augmenting it to fit said race such as adding like a button that opens a UI window within the creation menu to enable such a task if the code allows of course
Starbound follows a close trait to drox operative scripting setup but uses it differently and uses a different game engine compared to drox operative.

#3 - Custom ship models and race lore along with face art of your custom race (like you see within the game for that race) an option to name the ship like the others defaulted to the game adding this into the UI window for the race

#4 - maybe add content and such for this race like race traits mods if able to; if not give it traits already provided within the current assets to use in your own.
and keep in mind to consider race reactions ect to other races as well as your self as your not just creating a race for you to play but to also interact with when playing through normal gameplay so if you make a overpowered god-modded race and they suddenly hate you within a sector rather by a "random galactic karma event" or you doing stuff within the sector they are in. you'll get the idea that you'll be have issues fighting/dealing with them.

#5 as others have stated on the slots among other things; setup how you wish to have race specifics done however leave it to the player to decide as to if they have a race specific crew or none at all this I believe, this would be more fair to the player as long as there is balance regardless on how you do this, that way there is a little room for it to actually custom to that person to some degree while keeping balance within the idea of this.

#6 if you wish to add effect/events/items relating to this race or addons keep in mind how it would works and what it dues. however most likely the code engine may not enable this; but I could be wrong as it's been awhile since i've played around with the modding aspect of this classic game.

#7 if anything be open to suggestions and such there is nothing wrong with an idea as the worst ideas are the ones left unheard ;3

#8 and finally make sure you double check everything and consider all the small stuff that I'm too lazy to mention that may come to mind on your own terms lol

I dont know what these suggestions/ideas based layout would entail from other people's viewpoints as this is just a baseline I try to follow before starting something big, as honestly you can go about it however, but I often consider these things when I think of how a custom race is made within moddible games that permits it.

Disclaimer! if I forgot anything you feel is important I apologize about that as it's been awhile since I posted on this forum as im not much of a forum attender nor do I type stuff unless I feel it's important or maybe helpful(I hope so anyways) half the time >..<
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I hope this was somewhat helpful ;3
Sincerely: Shadori Absolia